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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Day 150 - BABIES!

Date: 11/27/12
Location: Costa de Oro, Costa Rica

Word of the day: bebés - babies
Turtle Fact: After some 25 years of maturing, she usually returns to the same beach
where she was born, to lay up to 140 of eggs. And from then on, she
comes back to do it every few years.

Still awake from the night before....

So as I was planning on going to bed, a brother of mine sends me some photos that I am to use for our annual Maisano Holiday Card. The Holiday cards usually have some relevant pop-culture/social media twist to them, and this year is no different. Like the start of any project, I was really excited to get started. Well a couple minutes turned into hours after a small cup of coffee mix with cocoa powder. Before you know it Kayla wakes up for morning hatchery checks. I relieve her of her 4am, 5am and 6am checks as I will have already been up.

Throughout the night and early morning SEVERAL different nests decided to hatch and babies crawled up to the surface. I ended up releasing 199 babies and making 4 different trips to the ocean to let them go. It was awesome. After such a lull of babies, it was a great tangible reminder why I have been spending the last 5 months in Costa Rica.

After the last release of babies at 6am, I take advantage of the great weather and take some video footage of some wildlife along the beach (Nature:30). Amazingly still feeling awake and active for being up for such a long time, I go and get my swell on.
Breakfast (German Pancakes). Siesta. Arts and crafts. Lunch (pigs in a blanket). Clean back yard. Play in waves. Fill and dig out hatchery holes from exhumations. Run. Sunset. Shower. Cook.

Sunset Deep Thoughts: Turtles swim by pushing through water with their flippers. Birds fly by flapping their wings, pushing the air underneath them causing lift. Could birds fly in space? Since there is no air in space, would a bird flapping it's wings actually do anything since its not flapping it wings against anything?

Dinner (chicken rice and salad)

Siesta. Updates to HT.com. Sleep.

Lesson:

Food: Pigs in a blanket. Half regular flour, half corn flour, made into a fluffy dough, wrapping a hot dog, covered in cheese and baked in oven - comfort food for sure!

Something
I am thankful for: Having just a little extra energy than most.
Something I don't want to admit: I love photo shop and I'm a closet graphic designer. Granted I am sure I am taking the long way (self taught) to do most projects.

Total Nest I have saved: 48
Total Nests Poached on my Patrol:48
Total Turtle Eggs I saved: 5102+
Total Baby Turtles I Released: 1,443
Days of Rain: 88/146

Welcome! Bienvenido!

This page is dedicated to my experience and journey of Helping Turtles

Like most people born in the 1980's my obsession with turtles started with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. From there I started acquiring all things turtle related; pets, toys, clothing, backpacks, statues, posters, patches, shampoo, etc. I am proud to stay I still have the majority of these item. However I have cut back on purchasing these materialistic items and have focused my efforts in a different area.

In 2007 I traveled to Nicaragua with some friends. During the trip we traveled to Playa La Flor where we witnessed Olive Ridley Turtles walking out of the ocean to lay their eggs in the sand. It was this experience that made me realize I had new goal in life - Help the Turtles.

Now I have found myself in a unique position - nothing holding me geographically, no career obligations and a couple of opportunities at my footsteps. Game on!